The Invaders Just, Unjust
by Claira McGarrett
Summary: This is one of my favourite stories where an alien family has set out to capture David, Claira Steve and Sarah but the alien father is ill and dies. This is where Anette enters the stories with some good results.


**The Invaders**

**Just, Unjust**

The believers had received information of another alien landing near the Florida Keys, so they decided to send the Vincent's out to check up on the situation.

David decided to take Steve and Sarah on this investigation to make it a kind of family break.

"Have you ever been to the Keys before, Sarah?" Steve said looking back.

"Ha? She hasn't been east of Utah!" Claira said looking up.

"Well you certainly weren't born east of Kansas, Claira Vincent!" David said chipping in.

Claira was about to say something when she realised that Sarah and the others were already laughing.

"Har, har dad, very funny." She said jogging Sarah reading her comic.

"Hey, dad will you tell cousin Claira, she's jogging me while I'm trying to read my comic."

"Reading? Is that what you call it? Can you understand a full sentence yet?"

"Claira!" David said looking back.

"Did we have to bring the kids?" Steve said looking at David.

"If we didn't we would have been in world war three by now."

"Who says we're not already in the back seat?"

"True, very true."

They hit the eastbound traffic so decided to pull over to a restaurant for an early dinner.

"They're all coming out of Disney world."

"I've been there! But, I wouldn't…." Claira said looking back at the adults.

"Maybe next week if we're still here."

"I'm going to grab some information about the resort on it. Maybe we could get a hotel there."

"Hey, do you think we're made of money?"

They soon grabbed their trays for dinner and sat down.

"Hey, look cous, this is interesting." Sarah said showing her the magazine she had found.

"Wow yeah, great, Sarah."

"Maybe if we stayed nice towards our parents for the week we can get into the resort sometime."

Steve watched her. "Hey, bruv have you seen a pig flying across the sky lately?"

"Not lately, no."

Sarah looked at him.

They were soon bloated and they walked back to their car.

"The freeway looks empty now. We might get a straight run into the keys by midnight." David said watching the kids jump in the back. "I'll swing past the resort to keep the kids happy."

"Sucker. They're going to be asleep within the hour."

David drove off and headed down to the keys.

Steve was right, the children missed the Disney resort as it slipped past behind the trees and David soon drove into the keys and parked up.

"I'll try and get us some rooms." Steve said jumping out.

David looked back at the kids sleeping. Steve then runs back out.

"Two rooms four singles."

"That's lucky. How did you manage that this time of year?"

Steve looked at him.

"Ever since the town got word that we've had something strange going on around here the place has been deserted." Mr Stevens', the hotel manager said helping Steve and David in with their luggage.

"Right, that's the last one." Steve said checking the bags.

"You have children, you said?"

"Yes sir, two girls, my daughter Claira and my brothers' daughter, Sarah."

"Well, I hope that you enjoy your week here. I must say that you're like a breath of fresh air around here lately, since… Ah, why am I worrying? Disneyland is just up the coast and once all these rumours are quashed…."

David watched the man walk away.

"We better start out early tomorrow."

"After breakfast." Steve said.

"Oh well of course. Feed the army first."

They went into their rooms.

The morning soon came and they had their breakfast. Claira looked out over the everglades.

"It's beautiful this time of year."

"Hmm, full of colour." David said. "Are you finished with your breakfast?"

"Yes. That meal we had last night done me in, dad. All those courses."  
"That's what you get for being a tourist."

"In our own country? Now, if you were talking about Uncle Steve, I could understand."

David looked at her. "Do you want to join us today or do you want to spend the day in your room?"

"Sorry." She said looking down.

"That's better."

They were soon walking around the glades.

"Wasn't there something you were telling me about saucers that could survive under water?" David said looking out to the everglades.

"Certain specifications were on order when I left, yes, but they were drawing board stuff, nothing concrete and certainly not specific enough to survive this sort of depth."

"Crash landing?"

"That would be more plausible."

"Well, lets find something then."

They started to walk along the edge.

"We need to get out there. Hire one of the everglade boats.

They were soon out on the everglades surfing the waterways. They went into some dense area but couldn't find anything that would say that a saucer landed in the area.

David turned back and was starting to head back when Claira noticed a hut on the far bank.

"I thought the hotel owner said that the place was deserted after the scare."

"He did." David said cutting the engines as the boat hit the bank. "Stay there."

Claira watched him move up the back to the hut.

Steve now pulled up besides them in his boat.

"What gives?"

"The smoke from that hut."

"Hmm, interesting." He said jumping onto the bank.

"Uncle Steve…" Claira said getting worried.

"Hey, your okay. If anything happens jump on my boat and hit the throttle and head back to the hotel. You understand, kids?"

"We understand, dad." Sarah said looking on.

They watched him head towards the hut.

David moved around the hut and found the door to be open. He moved in and noticed the stove that was making the smoke outside.

Steve now walked in.

"Hey!"

He spun round.

"Steven, Jesus!"

"Easy bruv. What have you got?"

"What you see. Someone's defiantly living here."

"You'd be right Mr Vincent, some one is living here. Why don't you join me?"

David and Steve stared at the alien holding their trademark weapon.

Claira looked out along the glade to see a small boat approach.

"Quick cus, get on to the bank now!"

"But, dad…"

"Forget your dad, there's a boat heading this way."

They now dived on to the bank and hid in the undergrowth.

The boat parked up next to theirs and they watched as a child now jumped off the boat and looked around.

Claira noticed her hands.

"An alien."  
"Hurh?"

"She's an alien. An alien kid, I don't… it can't be."

"They start off like us?"

They watched her head towards the hut.

"She's heading to the hut."

"Dad and Uncle David… She'll see them."

Claira froze, as she couldn't get her head around the situation at that point.

The child ran to the hut.

"Dad, theirs two other glade boats out there." The alien child said running in and going to her father.

"I know. They belong to these two. The Vincent's."

"The Vincent's?" The alien child said stepping forward. "Then that means their children must be around here too."

"Are they?" The adult alien asked.

"Yes. We left them at the bank." Steve said looking at the child.

"You can't have, the boats were empty. They, they must have seen me coming. I'm going out to take another look."

"Wait."

"Dad, we can't wait, if there out there then we have to get to them and quick."

"What about a gun?"

"Gun? Oh yeah, yeah, a gun." She said going to her father and grabbing another gun off him.

"Catcha later."

They watched her run out.

The alien now looked at David and Steve.

"Don't tell me, she reminds you of your two?"

"An alien child. Very impressive."

"Impressive, yes because she was conceived after you left us. We knew that you would end up helping them so we needed a new way of dealing with you."

"You mean get to me because I now feel like them? Look who killed Sarah's parents just to make everything look so clean."

"How many more of them are planned?" David asked.

"Oh, more than you can imagine. Children are so vulnerable, aren't they?"

David looked at Steve then outside and thought of the children.

The child walked back to the boats and looked around.

"Hello!"

Claira watched her through the trees.

"Claira?" Sarah said behind her.

"Shooosh!"

The child turned round.

"Where are you Claira? I know that we can be friends. Like your friends with Steve O'Brien."

"Dad?" Sarah said jumping up.

"Get down!"

The child now noticed them.

"Hi."

Claira stared at her.

She moved forward.

"That's far enough!"

"Alright, but don't you want to come into the hut? Your parents are there."

Claira looked through the trees to the hut then looked back to the child who was now pointing an alien gun at her.

"Claira." Sarah said grabbing her hand.

She looked down at her hand in hers. She now moved forward and moved towards the hut.

They walked in and noticed the adult alien and then their parents.

"Dad!" They both said as they run to their side.

"Mission accomplished, dad." She said going to the adult alien.

They stared at her.

"What do you want with us now that you've got us all together?" David asked watching them.

"Well, now, we all go back to the hotel and we get checked in as Doug and Annette Powell." He said grabbing the alien child and hugging her.

Claira looked at them then looked at David.

"Steve can then contact the bureau and tell them that they have two new human members to join the ever growing ranks of the believers." The alien said grabbing the rings and handing one to his child.

Claira jumped forward.

" Your mad, he wont do that, he's my uncle!"

"An alien that can die with one burst from this gun, Miss Vincent." He said grabbing the gun.

David pulled her back and moved forward.

"Your right, he is an alien but, this alien has something that you could never have or even obtain from whatever or whoever made you."

They looked at Sarah burying her head into Steve.

"Love means nothing to you. You can't show love the way we can. You'll be found out along with those rings."

"Eventually, but by that time we will have accomplished more than could have been achieved with conventional methods."

"Dad, we're wasting time."

"Alright, let me just get the provisions."

They watched him moved back and open a case.

"It looks like your not so twenty first century as your off spring." Steve said noticing the tubes.

"The crash was rather more energy consuming than predicted."

"They can only get so much accomplished in the short time I've been away, ha?"

"We're growing Mr O'Brien, growing everyday."

"That's Vincent, Steve Vincent." He said staring at him.

The child grabbed the gun.

Steve looked at it.

"Annette! What do you intend to do with that gun? We need him."

She looked back then dropped the gun.

They left the hut and loaded up the boats and were soon on their way back to the hotel.

Claira watched the child as they drove back.

"Your ship…."

Annette looked back.

"What about it?"

"Is it in the glades?"

"What's left of it, yes. We took in water the second we landed. My dad did his best to keep her afloat, you can see what it did to him."

"Your dad? You're an alien, you can't have parents, you're a…."

Annette moved forward.

"I'm a, what, Claira?"

She looked away.

"Don't push me Claira, I know all about you. They let me read your files, all your files. What was it like having alien parents, Claira?"

Claira moved closer to David and hid her head.

"Daddy."

"That is enough, Annette!"

David looked back then at Steve.

"I wouldn't think about trying something back at the hotel either. The place has had a big enough scare as it is. Our transition into the human race has been well planned." He said looking at Steve and David.

They pulled up outside the hotel. Annette jumped out.

"Bags I get the best room in the hotel." She said running in.

Steve looked back at Doug as he got out. He held his head.

"I have to get to my room and…." He now collapsed.

Steve grabbed him.

"Uncle Steve, what are you doing? He's dying, let him go!"

"Claira, this is a scared town. If they see him burn up out here the place will be sectioned for the rest of the season. David, help me get him up to our room."

"What about Annette?" David said grabbing the alien.

"Kids, go check on her. Keep her busy while we slip past."

"Uncle Steve?"

"Claira, you heard your uncle, now go. Take your cousin."

They watched them run off.

David looked at Steve.

"I hope you know what your doing Steven."

"No, I don't, not yet anyway. But we have to stop him getting to the bureau. That's one thing we do know."

Annette found herself in the lobby looking at the pictures of Disneyland. Claira and Sarah moved up behind her.

" I thought that I'd stay out of the way for a while. My dad is not known for his patience when it comes to dealing with human mundane things."

Claira looked back to see Steve and David carrying her father in.

They went up to Steve's room where he checked him over.

"His lungs are flooded. It's seeping into his original body. I need to get some kind of drain in."

Doug now woke up.

"What, what is going on?"

"You collapsed outside. How much water did you take in?"

"What do you care?"

"I'm still an alien. I know what we can survive with and without on in regards to this planet. Now, are you going to tell me or I can't help you."

"Can't or wont?"

"Your choice." Steve said moving to the window.

He looked around.

"Annette, where is she?"

"Downstairs with the kids. You want her up here?" Steve said looking at him.

"No, I…."

They now watched him starting to glow red.

David moved forward.

"Steve…"

"I can't do anything brother, the regeneration has run it's course. His lungs are collapsing."

They stared at him.

Annette moved through the lobby to the entrance.

"They must already be upstairs. What room are you in?"

"Ha?" Claira said looking at her.

"Your room, what room do you have here?"

"Erm," She looked at the stairs.

"Doesn't matter. I bet you're the only ones here." She said running towards the stairs.

"Wait!"

"No time."

"Claira, what are we going to do?" Sarah asked.

"Try and cut her off. Come on."

They ran after her.

"Annette!"

"What?" She said knocking on the doors.

"How about we go back downstairs and check on some more Disneyland pictures?"

"Later. Which room has my dad taken?"

She now opened all the doors checking if they looked lived in.

"That sounds like the kids." David said heading towards the door.

Annette now burst through the door just as the alien died.

They all stared at him burn up and disappear.

Annette now rushed forward screaming.

"Dad, daddy."

Steve picked her up.

"That's enough!"

"You killed him, you killed my dad!"

"He was already dying. The crash in the glades killed him, but he saved you, didn't he?"

Annette looked at the ashes on the bed where her father once lay.

"Daddy."

David went to Claira who was still staring at the bed.

"Claira, lets get you back to your room."

"But, but the alien!" She said pointing.

"It's alright. Steve, do you want me to take Sarah?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Sure."

Steve watched them lead the two children out then looked at Annette.

"You've never seen us die on earth?"

She shook her head.

"For what it's worth Annette, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry? We had plans, the bureau; we were going to do so many things. Dad said we'd go to Disneyland. Claira and Sarah were showing me the pictures."

"We're going to Disneyland, maybe you'd like to come with us."

"With you? You, you'd hand me over to the bureau where they'll, they'll…."

"Oh, so that one is still going around back home ha? Well, I thought that at first but I look perfectly normal don't I and I collaborate with the bureau, with 'humans'. My daughter is one of them, or haven't you noticed that?"

Annette looked at him.

"It's not a dirty word, Annette. What your father was planning to do was wrong. They would have got to him and then they would have probably used him to destruction because of his plans. It's much better to work with them than against them."

Sarah paced the floor in David's room.

"Sarah, you'll wear the man's carpet out in a minute."

"My dad is in there with, with one of them, Uncle David and…"

"Uncle Steve is one of them Sarah, or haven't you noticed that lately."

"Claira, that's enough, the both of you. Let Steve handle this, alright."

"You trust him? An alien to, to…?" She said pointing to the door.

"I trust him to what? Betray us? He's family Claira, how many more times do you need to be reminded of that?"

She looked away.

"I can't wait any longer, that's my dad she's got in there."

"Sarah!"

They ran after her.

Sarah burst through the door.

"You're not going to change him. He's my dad and your not going to take him back!"

"Sarah, what are you talking about? Claira, have you been filling my daughters head with your talk again?"

"No, uncle Steve, I…"

"She's going to use you dad, don't listen to her."

Annette and Sarah now went for one another.

"I've got Sarah." David said pulling her away.

"I've got Annette." Steve said moving back.

Claira looked at him.

"Have you, Uncle Steve, got her?" She said now looking at the way he was holding her.

Sarah and Claira now ran out.

"Kids." Steve said getting up.

"Don't, Steve, leave them." He said then looked at Annette being held by him.

They soon had dinner. The setting was like a scene out of the civil war with the two aliens on one side of the table and the three humans on the other.

Claira watched Annette as they tucked in.

"What's the matter Claira, haven't you seen an alien eat before? Oh yeah you have, your parents, your uncle sitting next to me, here."

"Annette, that's enough." Steve said cooling the situation down.

Sarah and Claira soon finished and ran out to the open play area.

"I think someone should call the bureau and let them know what's been going on around here. We'll be pulling out of here in the morning."

"Yeah, erm, alright."

David stopped him.

"The bureau will handle this Steve, if you let them know what's happened.

"What has happened David. I don't even know myself anymore." He said walking away.

Annette sat on the steps to the hotel and looked out onto the glades. She heard the children playing and moved over to the gardens and watched them.

They now noticed her and stared at her.

"Come on Sarah, we can play back in my room." Claira said moving past her.

"Claira?"

She stopped.

"Can, can I come?"

She looked at her then Sarah. They now walked off with Annette in tow.

Steve was on the phone when he noticed the children run in and up the stairs.

"Hey, where are you all going?"

"Up to my room. Is that alright, Uncle Steve?"

He looked at her then Annette.

"Sure." He said smiling. "Claira!"

She stepped back.

"Yes, Uncle Steve?"

"Thanks." He said then kissed her.

She looked at him then ran off.

The next day they packed away and got ready to leave. The manager followed them out as the kids came rushing past and jumped into the back.

"Don't tell me, Disneyland next stop for your family, yes?" The manager said.

David looked at him then Steve who was watching the kids jostle for a space in the back.

"Well, we did promise them, hey, bruv?" David said breaking his concentration.

"Oh yes."

"I know that it's probably none of my business but, didn't you just arrive with the two children yesterday? The manager asked looking at the children.

David looked at Steve.

"We did, yes, but we made one over night. It's amazing what technology can do in this day and age." Steve said laughing then moving towards the car.

The manager looked at David.

"Excuse my brother. You can tell that he's the youngest in the family." He said then left the manager in a puzzled state as he reached the car.

"Hey, who's driving?" Steve asked.

"You are. I drove all the way here, didn't I?" He said throwing him the keys.

"Great!"

"Hey!"

"What?" He said looking over the roof.

"No red lights."

"Red lights? Me, bruv, green is more my colour."

They started laughing then got in and pulled away onto the freeway.

They arrived at Disneyland and enjoyed themselves. They were soon got hungry and walked around with their hot dogs.

David and Steve sat down at a table watching the children.

"Did you call the bureau?"

"Erm, yeah, I did."  
"And?"

"And, I made them aware that we had intercepted two aliens after their space ship had crashed landed in the everglades. The ship wasn't equipped to withstand the force of the crash and both aliens burned up within seconds of going under water."

David looked at him.

"A-ha."

"What? Was that not what you would have said?"

"I wasn't making the report, was I?"

"No, you weren't." He said finishing his dog and walking away.

David followed him.

Steve stopped and looked at him.

"What? I thought that some of these rides are also for adults to enjoy with their kids. Are you joining us, bruv?"

"No thanks. I think that I'll sit this one out."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. Your too old."

David watched him.

"Come on kids, race you to the next ride."

Steve grabbed the children and ran off.

David sat down watching them have fun.

Claira soon sat one ride out and ran back to David.

"Come on daddy, why aren't you joining in?"

"Well, you were having so much fun with your uncle, I didn't want to spoil it."

"Yeah, I know. Uncle Steve is great." She said looking back.

"Hmm, he's good for the three of you, ha?"

She looked at him.

"Three?"

David pulled her towards him.

"I think that you can understand what is happening. You saw it with Sarah."

Claira now sat down beside him.

"But daddy, Annette is an alien, she…."

"Who can't help reminding everyone that her uncle Steve is an alien?"  
"Yeah, I know daddy but, but uncle Steve is family."

David now pointed out to Steve with Sarah and Annette.

"Our family."

She watched them then slowly nodded.

David now hugged her.

"Do you know what?"  
"What?"

"Maybe I will join you on a ride. Race you to the next one."

"Your on."

They now jumped up and ran off.

THE END


End file.
